Clare O’Neil’s National Press Club address on Thursday was the most frank diagnosis of Australia’s housing crisis delivered by a sitting minister in decades.

The headline was the negative gearing and Capital Gains Tax reform. From July 2027, negative gearing will be restricted to new builds, and the 50% CGT discount will now also be restricted to new homes. This will drive more investment into housing construction instead of competing for the same housing stock.

This is the kind of bold, politically difficult reform the housing crisis demands.

Treasury modelling suggests these changes will get 75,000 households into home ownership. Other initiatives include:

• A $2 billion Local Infrastructure Fund for last-mile pipes and roads, only accessible to states that pursue ambitious planning reform.
• A $40 million Kit-of-Parts program to standardise bathroom pods, wall panels, and facades for prefab construction.
• A Productivity Commission inquiry into the regulatory barriers holding back supply.
• The first ever meeting of Housing, Planning and Building Ministers from every state and territory, convened the day after the speech.

After six years of not even having a federal Housing Minister under the Liberals, this is a minister who understands the problem and is building the machinery to deliver. We have the diagnosis and prescription. It’s time for the cure.